Despite facing a turbulent economic climate in 2024, MTN Nigeria has announced an ambitious plan to inject approximately ₦1 trillion into its network infrastructure in 2025.
The company’s CEO, Karl Toriola, revealed the investment initiative during a media briefing on Thursday, emphasizing MTN’s unwavering commitment to delivering enhanced service quality nationwide.
Toriola explained that the telecom giant is intensifying efforts to monitor and improve service delivery through independent performance metrics including third-party evaluations and user-generated speed tests which have shown a steady uptick in network quality across various states.
“We’re channeling around a trillion naira into capital projects next year to significantly elevate user experience,” Toriola said. “Our investments in capacity and quality far outpace those of our closest rivals, and as a result, customers naturally allocate more of their spending to providers who offer the most reliable service.”
Acknowledging the widespread use of multiple SIM cards by Nigerians to counter service inconsistencies, Toriola noted that customers eventually gravitate toward the provider that consistently delivers. He described 2024 as particularly difficult, revealing that MTN had to borrow to stay operational amid a sharply devalued naira — sliding from ₦450 to ₦1,600 against the dollar.
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“The telecom industry is capital-intensive, and in 2024 we operated at a loss with negative cash flow. Tariff models must evolve to reflect inflation and currency volatility,” he argued. “Globally, telecom pricing adjusts automatically in line with economic shifts.
For sustainability, Nigeria must adopt similar mechanisms.”
Toriola stressed that long-term sector resilience hinges on a predictable regulatory framework, stable policy environment, and improved access to foreign exchange.
These factors, he said, are vital for attracting the significant capital needed to expand Nigeria’s digital backbone, including fiber-optic infrastructure and data centers.
“Capital follows stability and returns — it doesn’t care about nationality,” Toriola concluded. “For Nigeria to compete globally, we must make the telecom space attractive to investors, both local and international.”
